Week Three B.I.T

STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING:

1. Define TPS & DSS, and explain how an organisation can use these systems to make decisions and gain competitive advantages.


What is TPS: it stands for the transaction processing system. TPS collects, stores, modifies and retrieve the transaction of an organisation to be considered a (TPS) the program must manage consistent data fro example an electronic payment is made, the amount must be both withdrawn from one account and added to another, it must complete both steps 


What is DSS: it stands for decision support system which is a computer based system that supports business or organisational decision making activities. DSS serves the management operation, planning levels of an organisation and helps make decisions which change quickly and are able to specify

Through the evaluation of these techniques it would be evident, that through the use of DSS a business would enable themselves to analyse large amounts of data, sophisticate analysis techniques and protect assets of an organisations information, which would give the business an edge in both efficiency and effectiveness of business activities.

In alliance with TPS this would enable a business to ensure the availability of the the transaction system, along with the awareness of a company to know that all components of the business are systemically compiled and this will allow elevation from there company's developers, meaning characteristic functions are backed up.

2. Describe the three Quantitative models typically used by decision support systems

The three systems are:

1. Sensitivity analysis
2. goal seeking analysis
3. Optimization analysis

sensitivity analysis: is a special type of what if analysis the decision maker will change only one variable of the problem to view change on the remaining variables.

goal seeking analysis: such as an amount figure is set for the profit variable and make changes in the other variables to achieve it.

Optimization analysis: is a special type of goal seeking analysis. Goal seeking analysis is made without considering any  constraints where as optimization analysis is made with considering all constraints, such as budget, schedule and resources

Q3. Describe a business processes and there importance to an organisation

A business process is a series of steps designed to produce a product or service. Most processes are cross-functional, spanning the "white space" between the boxes on the organisation chart. Some processes result in a product or service that is received by an organisations external customers. We call these primary processes, other processes produce products that are invisible to the external customer but essential to the effective management of the business.

4. Compare business process improvement and business process re-engineering


Business process improvement is a systematic approach to help an organisation optimize it's underlying processes to achieve more efficient results.

BPI focuses on doing things right, in essence BPI attempts to reduce variation and or waste in processes, so that the desired outcome can be achieved with better utilization of resource.

Business process re-engineering is the analysis and design of worth flows and processes within an organisation.

BPR is basically the fundamental re thinking and radical re design, made to an organisations existing resources. It's more than just business improvising.

5. Describe the importance of business process modelling

The business process modelling (BPM) is a rather important factor in the Business I.T world.
As the designation of the (BPM) is to help employees on current tasks which need completion and future tasks which can be under taken.It challenges the way things are done now, and looks at what you need to get the job done. That includes IT systems, information, training, authority and responsibility, interaction with other areas and documentation.

The Business process modelling 

Reference's: http://www.projectperfect.com.au/info_business_process_modelling_overview.php

http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/downloads/whitepapers/The_Business_Process_Model.pdf

http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&sugexp=llsfp&pq=quantitative%20methods&xhr=t&q=quantitative+modelling&cp=16&pf=p&sclient=psy&safe=off&aq=0&aqi=&aql=&oq=quantitative+mod&pbx=1&fp=577959724807c563

Week Two B.I.T

Week 2: blog site

Q1. explain information technology's role in business and describe how you measure success?

A1. I.T is mainly an enabler, and a facilitator of various business functions. I.T has developed into a global tool of linkage of various data, to optimize business technology's efficiency and effectiveness.

I.T items are controlled through three categories key performance indicators, efficiency I.T metric and Bench marking.

1. Key performance indicators: measure the synchronization's of internal operations of I.T with business set goals.

2. Efficiency I.T metric: measures the actual performance of the system; and effectiveness I.T metrics: measures the impact of I.T on the daily business operation.

3. Bench marking: is a continuous process that measures system results or benchmarking values, compares them and identify improvements.

Q2.  List and describe each of the forces in Porter’s Five Forces Model

These are the following steps to Porter' five forces model;

1. the threat of the entry of new competitors;

profitable markets that yield high returns will attract new firms. with this is mind it becomes identifiable that brand equity, customer loyalty and barriers to entry will be analyzed with competitor entry.

2. The intensity of competitive rivalry;

for most industries, the industry of competitive rivalry is the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry.

* The level of advertising expense
* Powerful competitive strategy
* Sustainable competitive advantage through innovation

3. The threat of substitute products or services;

the existence of products outside of the realm of the common product boundaries increases the propensity of customers to switch to alternatives

* Buyer switching cost
* Buyer propensity to substitute

4. The bargaining power of customers

The bargaining power of customers is also described as the market of outputs, the ability of customers to put the firm under pressure which also affects the customers sensitivity to prices changed.

5. Bargaining power of suppliers

The bargaining power of suppliers is also described as the market of inputs. suppliers of raw materials, components, labor and services to the firm can be a source of power over the firm, when there are few substitutes.

Q3. describe the relationship between business processes and value chains?

A business process; is a collection of related structured activities that produce a service or product that meet the needs of a client

A value chain; is a chain of activities for a firm operating in a specific industry. the business unit is the appropriate level for construction of a value chain, not the division level of corporate level

Thus the relationship these to two share is that, they both work hand in hand. The value chain is the product evaluation of worth which must be processed so the business functions can flow properly

Q4. compare porter's three generic strategies 


the three main generic strategies are as follows;

Cost leadership strategy: is about minimizing the cost to organization of delivering products and services. The cost or price paid by the customer is a seperate issue.

Differentiation strategy: involves making your products or services different from and more attractive thoes of your competitors. "organisations need: good research/development and innovation"

The focus strategy: companies that use focus strategies concentrate on particular niche markets and by understanding the dynamics of that market and the unique needs of customers within it.